The do-it-all everyday shirt

A lot can happen in six years. In just six years button-bashers jumped from the SNES to the Nintendo 64, and it only took Bowie that long to go from Hunky Dory to Low.

Well, over the last six years, we’ve fine-tuned our button-down shirt design until we got to the point where we think we can truly call it the Ideal Shirt. With your help and vital feedback, we’ve elevated ourselves to shirt-based nirvana — creating what we like to think is the perfect everyday button-down.

The Ideal Shirt is a solid, no-nonsense shirt, designed to be worn and worn and worn. While some shirts are made with very specific occasions in mind, we wanted this to be the kind of thing you could pop on, whatever the situation. Smart enough for work, tough enough for everything else. If you could only have one shirt in your wardrobe, you’d probably want one of these. Here’s how we made it…

It goes without saying that an Ideal Shirt needs ideal fabric. We picked two. Up first, there’s Oxford cloth. This probably doesn’t need much of an introduction — it’s that tough cotton weave first made fashionable by snappy American students and finger-clicking jazz cats of the 30s, and it’s still going strong.

And then there’s our chambray cotton. Chambray is a tried and tested workwear fabric that could maybe be described as denim’s slightly more wearable younger brother — reassuringly resilient, but still light enough for everyday action. Either way you go, you’ll be in the clover, fabric-wise.

Poring over your feedback on our earlier shirts one thing really stood out… you lot really, really don’t like flimsy collars. To be honest, that wasn’t much of a surprise, but still — all the collar horror stories you told us convinced us it was an area we needed to make sure we got right. That’s why we fused ours with a lining inside. Even as the world spins at the mind-melting rate of 1670 kilometres an hour, your collar will stay sharp and in shape.

Our Ideal Shirt uses our tried-and-tested tailored fit. Casual and relaxed, without being too baggy, it’s what the legendary critic Goldilocks would probably call ‘just right’.

Whilst we were keen to keep that classic, preppy button-down aura intact, one thing we did update was the length. If you’re a vintage hoarder you’ll know that old Oxford shirts can be a bit on the lengthy side, as they were designed strictly with tucking in mind. We cut ours a bit shorter so you can let it fly free without the constant fear of getting caught it up in heavy machinery (or your bike tyre).

Thin shirts can crease like crazy, so we made sure our fabrics were thick enough to stay smooth. Our Oxford cloth is 175g/m2, the striped Oxford is 140g/m2, and our chambray is 160g/m2. They all sit nicely in that middle zone that’s thick enough to keep the creases at bay, without being so heavy you can’t wear ‘em when the sun shows up. They’ll still have that fresh, crisp feel—but you won’t look like you’ve donned the Turin Shroud.

As you can see, this shirt’s well and truly Ideal—whether you’re wearing yours under a Shetland jumper, Ivy League style, or you’ve got it unbuttoned with some shorts and a t-shirt as you ride your old mountain bike around town doing your best JFK Jr impression. Yep, with seven colours to choose from in the Oxford and two dye options in chambray, this thing is versatile. Wear yours how you want, when you want.

All very well, but how do you get one? Well, the Ideal Shirt will be available to preorder for 79€ from Tuesday the 7th of February. But as usual, the first come first served.

If it doesn't work out fear not, returns and exchanges are easy and the cost of the return is on us.

Need to know anything else? Drop it in the comments below or check our international Instagram page for the answer. Possibly.

Thanks,

The Asphalte Team